


for you, both sides

by sarangway



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Actors, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Inspired by K-Drama | Korean Drama, Love, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:06:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24126346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarangway/pseuds/sarangway
Summary: kim doyoung is currently korea's favorite lead actor. lee taeyong is just a rookie who's finally able to achieve his dream. when doyoung personally requests taeyong to star as his romantic lead, the lines between fiction and reality blur.
Relationships: DoTae - Relationship, Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung & Lee Taeyong, Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Lee Taeyong
Kudos: 32





	1. trailer

“Firstly, let’s congratulate our new cast!”

A roaring applause echoed around the theater, the cast nodding and giving their smiles and waves to the crowd as they are well trained to do. Press conferences were nothing new to them but there was still a sense of exhilaration to see so many people in the crowd waiting in anticipation for their new project. It wasn’t just a crowd of fans this time around, either. The big-name cast brought in more celebrities since everyone was friends in this industry, leaving Taeyong to feel starstruck as he stood on the stage and tried to point people out through the harsh lights that almost blinded him. He was grateful for the opportunity, especially since he had landed a lead role.

“We’ll move on to some questions before we watch the trailer together. This first one is for Kim Doyoung.” The presenter looked up from her cue cards and turned to Doyoung while addressing him, a smile forming on Doyoung’s face when their eyes met. Doyoung was a current prince of the industry – he had been cast as the second lead for a year prior to his domination over the first lead in now three dramas. He was young for the amount of success he had, and he wasn’t seeming to slow down any time soon. He was the other lead in this drama, someone that Taeyong hadn’t dreamed of working alongside. He still couldn’t wrap his mind around being here. “How is it to be working on another drama as the lead?”

“It’s been a wonderful opportunity to take on this project. I hadn’t imagined being able to play another lead role so soon and I’m just forever grateful.” Doyoung was graceful with his words. It wasn’t something he had to be trained on either, his manager never had to tell him to watch his tongue or fix things for him. Doyoung was just perfect without any aid from others. “I hope that I can bring this role a lot of warmth and familiarity.”

“Since you have become an icon in the acting world, what was it like to work with a smaller actor?” Taeyong recognized that this meant him, and he tried not to fidget in his seat. Doyoung’s warm eyes turned to him and smiled, a hand moving to rest on Taeyong’s knee carefully.

“Lee Taeyong has been a wonderful partner in this drama. I think he’s going to steal the show more than I will, by far. He’s a brilliant actor.” The squeals from the crowd at the sudden skinship and compliments made Taeyong’s ears red. He would have to get used to this, especially since they didn’t prefilm the show like some dramas had been doing as of late. This was one of their charm points – that they really took each day carefully and tried to grow all of the relationships organically. The workshops that Taeyong and Doyoung were assigned were also a huge help. The questions continued, Taeyong feeling shy to answer them but also relieved that he had the support of Doyoung and his smaller crowd of fans to calm him down.

Taeyong had wanted to be an actor since he was very young. He was always drawn to the shows on the television that his mother played while she cooked dinner and would walk around the house dramatically repeating whatever they said. He had a knack for memorization and used to use his acting skills to get out of trouble in school all the time. When he had gotten into an entertainment company following his audition, he felt like his world was falling into place. Everything was new to him – the celebrities he would meet and work with, the small roles he managed to snag on large shows. His face was slowly becoming recognizable thanks to the great management he had been given. Still, he didn’t think he was famous enough to have the show he was working on now. According to his manager however, it seemed like Doyoung had wanted him.

The show was rumored to be turned into a drama from a famous webtoon that had taken off on Naver lately, and fans had been hard at work trying to cast the dream couple for the show. Of course, Doyoung’s name was thrown around as a potential lead cast member; someone had pointed out that the artist may have even based her drawings off of him in the first place. On the other hand, it was nearly impossible for the fans to come up with who should play the other guy. This was partly because Doyoung had been paired with girls up until then, but also because it seemed like all of the other It Boys in the acting industry were tied up in shows already. When it came out that Doyoung had officially signed to be the lead, fans were incredibly curious as to how it would turn out. Taeyong was too. After all, he was a fan of Doyoung as well. So when Taeyong had received a call from his manager saying that Doyoung had expressly asked for Taeyong to play the lead and signed the contract on that condition, he was floored.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i literally have an addiction to dotae its ridiculous,,, im writing markhyuck rn and yet i still manage to create an entirely separate story ..,,  
> anyways this is just the introduction so pls rest assured chapters will be longer  
> talk to me about dotae on twt!! @[h_ndery](https://twitter.com/h_ndery)


	2. episode one

“Wait! You aren’t even going to give me your name?”

“There’s no reason, I really need to leave, and I’ll be sure to see you again.”

“You still owe me money for this shirt. Coffee stains are nearly impossible to get out-” Before he could protest more, Doyoung shoved money into his hand and ran out of the café, Taeyong scoffing and crumpling it in his palm.

“Cut!” Taeyong unclenched his fist and smiled as the director checked the footage before giving the okay that it was fine. This was the last scene of this episode and Taeyong felt relieved since it had taken so many tries to get the coffee right. Having Doyoung pretend to trip and spill coffee on him multiple times was frustrating since the director was so particular about it. He could tell that Doyoung felt apologetic each time he would spill it on him. That was just how acting went, so Taeyong didn’t feel bad about it.

A lunch break was called until that evening where they would start filming Episode Two’s night scenes in advance. Planning alongside the sun being up was a hassle, but since it was an outdoor scene they needed to take advantage of it. Taeyong’s schedule was packed during this week between the filming and interviews he had to attend. More importantly, this meant that he was going to be beside Doyoung for the remainder of the day, which was something difficult for his heart to handle. Doyoung was a lot cooler about it than Taeyong was, however.

Taeyong dug into his sandwich and looked up at his manager, Jaehyun. Jaehyun had been by his side since he had been signed as an actor and somehow managed to put up with all the troubles that Taeyong brought to him. “Hey, Jaehyun…”

“Hm?” Jaehyun’s phone had been flooded with correspondence emails for different appearances that people wanted Taeyong for, so he barely had time to rest during the workday. “Oh, before you say something, don’t forget you have a workshop after this with Doyoung.” Taeyong lost what he wanted to say after he remembered that.

Taeyong wasn’t really the only one who was nervous about all of this. Doyoung had been battling his feelings since he had learned that Taeyong agreed to the role. It had come out of left field in the eyes of his company – but he had been closely following Taeyong since he had debuted. There was something really captivating about him that made Doyoung naturally drawn to him. He hadn’t imagined Taeyong being even more attractive when he had met him, however, and it made the workshops a lot more difficult for him. “Hyung, I feel like I’m going insane.”

“Doyoung you _asked_ me to get Taeyong on the cast. How are you going to be too nervous to face him now?” Johnny, his manager, shook his head at the actor.

He didn’t want to whine more, but Doyoung was at a crossroad. He knew that having a relationship with someone through the drama he was filming wasn’t something unheard of in this industry – a lot of his seniors would talk to him about falling in love with their costar for the duration of the show, but it was understood that it would end when they finished the show. Doyoung felt like this was impossible for him since he had already set his sights on Taeyong since they had met. There was also the unspoken understanding that since Taeyong was a smaller actor he had a chance of Doyoung’s fans not liking him being paired up with their favorite actor. So far, it seemed like Doyoung’s fans were fairly tame – but that could change at a heartbeat as was proved by some of his coworkers.

There were already some posts popping up with Doyoung’s fans investigating who Taeyong was and where Doyoung could have found him, but it was all positive things like the charities he had worked with or fundraisers he had done in partnership with his company or brand deals he had done. Taeyong really was the bright-eyed actor that he appeared to be. It made sense why Doyoung’s eyes couldn’t stop following him.

-

“Alright, this scene is going to be with you two cuddled up on a couch together. Doyoung, put your arm around Taeyong. Remember that in this scene you’re both being very vulnerable with each other since it’s the first time you’re comforting each other. Don’t be afraid to be close.” The workshop director was walking them through the scene meticulously, telling Taeyong when to scoot in closer or where Doyoung should place his hand. They had to do read-throughs in intimate settings like this so they’d gradually be more comfortable with being physically close with each other. It still made them nervous and their movements were clumsy and awkward, which is why their workshops ended up taking the longest out of all of their work in the day.

Taeyong was more comfortable than Doyoung in leaning into this, though, having no problem with being tucked until Doyoung’s arm. The more uncomfortable part was trying to read in this position. “Hey, do you think I’ll be able to get over this?”

“Of course. Things pass, even if they don’t pass slowly.” Doyoung’s hand moved to rest on top of Taeyong’s head. “Sometimes it’s difficult to define yourself as something other than your mistakes. However, even if we were our mistakes, we can find comfort in that many people have made the same mistakes as us. We aren’t alone in our shortcomings.”

It was strange. Even though Taeyong knew the words that Doyoung were saying was from the script he read, he felt like he was addressing them directly to him. Taeyong looked up to face him, the eye contact he made giving him butterflies in his stomach when he saw how softly Doyoung was looking at him. “Great! Great going, you two. That emotion is exactly how they’d feel.”

Taeyong’s cheeks reddened a bit when he remembered it wasn’t just them in this room together. Flustered, he found his place in the script again and tried to continue the scene without messing up again. After they had finished this scene together, they moved to talking about their characters with the director for a bit. They remained sitting together on the couch, Doyoung’s arm draped across Taeyong’s shoulders as he read his notes from his notebook. His arm moved back down to grab Taeyong’s hand and play with his fingers, and before long it seemed like their workshop was over. Taeyong being so comfortable made the time fly by, and the staff called it a day. Doyoung slipped his arm out from Taeyong and stretched, turning to smile at him before he stood up and walked over to Johnny. How was he going to survive the next few months?

-

“Hey, Taeyong, did you see you’re trending on Naver?”

“Me?” Jaehyun showed him his phone and his name was right there in the fifth slot. Taeyong felt like he was dreaming. “Why? What happened?”

“The company posted some photos of you and Doyoung. I guess that allowed some fans to find you. Ah, read this.”

for doie **@doieluvr**

_even though i’m a doyoung fan i think taeyong is so cute…_

tyongiloveumost **@taeyong23754**

_the new photos :’( they are sooo handsome together_

notice me taeyong **@doyoungsonly**

_i really think i’m falling for doyoung’s costar!!! theyre so dreamy i think theyre really in love!!_

Taeyong felt excited after reading those, noticing that his social media had taken off and his fancafe had grown by significant numbers. He knew that taking this job was going to help his career, but he didn’t realize the magnitude of Doyoung’s power. He was currently outside of the filming area waiting for his next scene on, and Doyoung came out of the house and jogged over to him, waving his phone and smiling.

“Did you see? You’re becoming more famous than me now.” Jaehyun got up and walked over to the marketing manager to discuss some things, leaving the two of them alone together. “Your fans are quite sweet towards me, I’m surprised.”

“I’m grateful towards you. This is thanks to you after all.”

“It feels really cute to hear it from you.” Doyoung gestured for Taeyong to scoot over as he opened his camera on his phone. “Let’s take a selfie together, I’ll post it and tag you.”

Taeyong leaned in and smiled awkwardly, Doyoung holding back a laugh as he pulled him closer and grinned. The shutter sound went off and they examined the selfie for a moment before Doyoung typed out something and tweeted it, Taeyong’s phone lighting up with the notification. He opened it and read the tweet Doyoung had made: “Hello everyone! We’re currently filming For You, Both Sides and I wanted to share how cute Taeyong is today. Please cheer us on and be sure to tune in Saturday night! We. Love You~.” Even how he wrote was cute. It was no wonder Taeyong was a fan.

“I know we shouldn’t be drinking during this…” Doyoung whispered as he slid his phone into his pocket. “But I could go for some soju tomorrow. If you want to go together…I won’t tell if you won’t.”

“Call.” They both burst into laughter. They would both be killed by their managers if they knew they were drinking and eating bar food, but they decided to go together nonetheless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi friends...i was watching doyoung's iu cover while writing this and he has such pretty eyes i think id be nervous if i made eye contact w him too... also cliché kdrama soju scene coming up of course  
> talk to me on twt!! @[h_ndery](https://twitter.com/h_ndery)


End file.
